Apr 16

Why the Egg is a Symbol of Easter

The egg is like Jesus’ tomb. It is enclosed, it is quiet, and it seems lifeless. Yet within an egg, the promise of new life is waiting to burst forth. Jesus’ tomb was like an egg until early on Easter when Jesus rose up to a new and glorious life. Because of this rich symbolism, we add beautiful decorations to our eggs at Eastertime. Candymakers have added even more richness by creating wonderful candy treats in the shape of eggs.

Some people say that at an egg roll, the egg takes on a different Easter symbolism. They say that the egg stands for the huge rock that sealed Jesus’ tomb. When children roll eggs, they are reenacting the rolling back of that huge rock, so that Jesus can come forth once more into the bright sunshine of life.
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Apr 06

Spring Crafts Using Egg Cartons

by Jeanne Heiberg

Who would have thought you could use simple egg cartons to make so many crafts with your students! Ask your families to save egg cartons—plastic, pasteboard, or foam—for these fun Spring crafts.


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Mar 17

Stones & Blooms for Lent and Easter

by Sheila Kearney

Halfway through Lent is a good time to help students think about their Lenten resolutions and renew the spirit of Lent. So I plan a two-part lesson for my fourth-graders about sin (represented by stones) and Jesus’ Resurrection, when he overcame sin and death and made eternal life possible (represented by the empty tomb and flower blooms).

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Mar 16

Way of the Cross Strike a Pose

As you lead the prayer, have learners
strike a silent pose, statue-like, of a
person depicted or suggested at each
station. At the end of the Stations of
the Cross, allow several minutes of
complete silence.
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Mar 10

A Lenten Cross for Your Classroom

Use two bare branches, one longer than the other, to make a cross. Attach a shorter beam across the longer one with a piece of violet yarn and display the cross in your learning space.

Each class period during Lent, invite your learners into a brief examination of conscience. And then have each student tie a short piece of violet yarn or ribbon to the cross as a symbol of their repentance. For the first class after Easter, drape a white piece of cloth across the beam of the cross and explain that Jesus dies for our sins and how his joyous Resurrection is our promise of eternal life.
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Mar 09

Editor's Note: Challenge Your Excuse List

I'm not a joiner. I easily can come up with a Six-Excuses-Not-To-Join List.

I don't like to drive after dark.
I'm very bad at names.
I'm not good at small talk.
My work schedule demands some evening hours.
I'm an introvert.
I fear over-committing my professional and personal time and resources.

That said, I joined a group.

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Mar 08

Scrapbooking through Lent

by Lee Danesco

Here's a creative and entertaining teaching
tool to present a serious and sacred season.
Just add your personal enthusiasm to this
guide and you can present a multi-week project
that will encourage learners to discover for
themselves some of the spiritual richness
of the centuries-old spiritual disciplines
of Lent.

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Mar 07

Editor's Note: God Waits at the Next Station

My dear son Jerome and his wonderful wife Melissa found themselves overwhelmed in a New York City subway for the first time -- and on a holiday weekend at that.

Seeing the chaos, they made a pact: "If we get separated getting on the train, whoever gets on will get off at the next station and will wait, and whoever gets left behind gets on the next train and gets off at the next station."

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Mar 04

Prayer Table for the First Week of Lent

Lent begins on Wednesday, March 9.
The Gospel proclaimed on the First Sunday
of Lent is about Jesus being tempted in
the desert. Place on your prayer table a
large bowl of sand with rocks and twigs in
it, creating a symbolic representation of
the desert. Use the color violet in your
prayer space. Violet is the liturgical
color for Lent.
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Feb 25

The Lord's Prayer Background Material

by Jeanne Heiberg

I recently saw in an art exhibit a gentle landscape in which gold leaf or paint was worked into the clouds of the sky and the hills of the earth. Its title was “On Earth as It Is in Heaven.” Gold is a symbol of heaven, and this is what God wills for us: the happiness of heaven already experienced here on earth. Jesus taught us this in the Lord’s Prayer, in which the words of the painting’s title are preceded by “thy kingdom come, thy will be done.”


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